Collide
by Abs7
Summary: Tony DiNozzo has been living two different lives. What happens when they brutally collide over a case? Sequel to Kind of a Long Story. No pairings. Set mid-season two.
1. The Case

AN: So I wasn't going to write a sequel due to complete lack of ideas but I've got something, so I'll give it a chance. Thanks for all the reviews for Kind of a Long Story, I'm glad you all liked it and I'm hoping the sequel will be just as good. Oh and for all the actually case related stuff in this story you should know that the only experience I have is a high school forensics class that I haven't finished yet. So excuse all inaccuracies as poetic license if you please. One last thing, in order to not abandon this story I'll be posting updates every Tuesday.

* * *

Hannah Finch was only six years old. She was a tiny little girl even for her age. Her waist length blonde hair was in knotted tangles. The light pink dress she was wearing was covered in dirt and blood. Her tiny frame was covered in bruises, indicating that she suffered before she died, although a medical examiner was still to confirm that they hadn't occurred post-mortem.

She had been kidnapped on January third. Her body had been found on a playground one week later. Hidden under new fallen snow, the young girl's body had been uncovered by someone's dog out for a walk. Had that not happened the body may have remained unfound until the snow melted. Her family would have thought her to still be alive, they would still have hope.

It was barely six in the morning, the sun had yet to rise. The man and his dog who found the body sat far away from the apparent chaos at the crime scene, waiting to be interviewed. Fluffy snow fell over the entire scene, the beginnings of a blizzard from the looks of it. The playground sat in the middle of a circle of houses, all well within walking distance. The family of the deceased lived in one those houses. They stood at their door still dressed in pajamas, listening as the local LEO told them that their daughter was dead. Usually a job for NCIS, who was handling a case, but protocol was broken on this occasion when the family had seen the flashing police lights outside their house and thought their child, had been brought home. Not wanting to let their hopes climb to high, the LEO broke the news.

Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo was watching as Hannah Finch's parents had all remaining hope shattered. The father, and also the reason that NCIS was present, Gunnery Sergeant Aaron Finch looked like a man out for blood. He wanted revenge for his little girl that much was obvious. He didn't want justice. He wanted to kill whoever had hurt his daughter. Anthony DiNozzo may not understand that feeling entirely, his own daughter safe at home with the babysitter, but Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs certainly did.

The entire NCIS team seemed frozen in place as they watched Gunnery Sergeant Finch and his wife receive the news, only to be snapped out of their thoughts by hastily given orders from Gibbs, "Kate bag and tag, McGee talk to the people who found the body, DiNozzo photos." And like a well-oiled machine the group springs into action, each moving towards their respective tasks. Well, all but one. Tony DiNozzo couldn't help but stare at the scene in front of him, the little girl covered in dirt and blood and snow. Only one thought was in his mind. It could have been Alyssa. It could've been his own daughter.

"DiNozzo get to work" Gibbs snaps sharply, his voice reflecting the strain that cases involving children put on the whole team. Since DiNozzo had started working at NCIS they had only a handful of cases involving kids, most of them kidnappings, all of them resulting in a happy family being reunited. This was entirely new territory.

Gibbs' voice yanks Tony out of his thoughts; he responds to Gibbs with a simple "Yes Boss" and then gets to work photographing the crime scene. As he works, Tony is glad for the cold; the slight tremor in his hands can be excused as shivering, nobody would think to look any closer, and while the weather really made handling this case hell, the last thing he wanted was McGee or Kate thinking he couldn't handle himself at a crime scene.

A few moments of watching Tony work and Gibbs knows he's going to have to keep a close eye on his agent during this case, it had obviously hit home for him and really Gibbs couldn't blame him but the last thing he needed was for his agent to do something rash because he took the case to personally, and as he could already tell, Tony was taking this case very personally.

Gibbs' musings are interrupted by Dr. Donald Mallard, better known as Ducky, who already had his preliminary findings on the body. "Usually you would've asked about the cause and time of death by now" Ducky notes, seeing Gibbs' preoccupation.

"Well, I'm asking now. What do you got?" Gibbs says, in his usual gruff fashion.

"Died somewhere between eight and nine o'clock P.M. yesterday. Cause of death is asphyxiation" Ducky answers, not even starting one of his 'this reminds me of a time' stories, he knew everyone was already on edge and just wanting straight answers sans stories to accompany them. "I'll know more once I get her back to autopsy".

"Thanks Duck" Gibbs replies tersely.

"Jethro, I do advise you keep a close eye on Anthony during this case…I do believe it's becoming rather personal to him" Ducky says, unknowingly echoing Gibbs' previous thoughts. Gibbs was glad that Tony also had Ducky looking out for him but at the same time he was also concerned that DiNozzo wasn't hiding how much this case bothered him. Usually the man was all smoke and mirrors, especially with personal matters such as these.

"I was thinking the same thing" Gibbs answers, glancing over once more at Tony.

* * *

The team made short work of the crime scene; there wasn't much to be found besides the body, which was clearly dropped there after being killed elsewhere. Evidence of any kind was sparse, the killer had been very careful to not leave anything behind. Already, everyone could tell this was going to be a long hard case.

Ducky and Palmer had already left with the body and were headed back to NCIS to perform the autopsy. The rest of the team had just finished their respective assignments and were packing up their gear getting ready to leave. As they did so Gibbs noticed that Tony was uncharacteristically silent, usually he was the one trying to pick everyone else up during rough cases such as these and his behavior today was so different than the usual Tony DiNozzo that Gibbs was starting to get worried about his agent.

"Kate you're driving back, take McGee, Tony you're with me" Gibbs says and tosses Kate the keys to the van.

Kate catches the keys, nearly dropping them in the snow a few times before she actually gets a good grip on them. She turns to McGee and gives him a questioning look, wondering if he knew anything about Gibbs' sudden change of plans, but gets only a shrug in return. When she looks to Tony she sees that he isn't looking at her but is instead is in the middle of what looks like a very heated argument with Gibbs, of course, both Gibbs and Tony seems to have mastered non-verbal communication and the aforementioned argument is more glares and angry expressions than actual words.

Gibbs notices that Kate is watching Tony and himself and snaps at her and McGee "What are you two still doing here?" The comment sends them running towards the NCIS van just to avoid the accompanying glare.

Taking advantage of Gibbs' momentary distraction Tony hurries to Gibbs' car, the last thing he needed was to be arguing with his boss in front of local LEOs and grieving parents. He knew Gibbs had something to say to him and he knew he wasn't going to get out of it, but he certainly wasn't going to do it at the crime scene.

Only a few seconds later Gibbs gets in the car and to Tony's surprise doesn't immediately start yelling at DiNozzo. In fact, the first five minutes of the drive are spent in total silence and the one time where Tony attempted to turn the radio on he was quickly stopped by a glare from Gibbs. Eventually, Tony is the one to break the silence.

"Does it ever get any easier Boss?" Tony asks in a voice that is such a far cry from the agent's normally loud, confident voice that Gibbs is surprised. This case was really getting to Tony. And it was getting to Gibbs as well, he wouldn't say it to anyone but the only thing he could think about when he saw the little girl's body was Kelly. Cases like these brought all sorts of painful memories back for him, and Gibbs knew, even for people who had never lost a child, that these cases never got any better. If anything the only got worse, knowing that no matter how much you did people kept dying, and there would always be another case, and another body. And every so often they sucked as bad as this one did.

"No" Is Gibbs' simple answer delivered in typical Gibbs style, short and to the point.

There is a loud sigh from Tony's side of the car, and the younger agent says resignedly "Fair enough" before sinking down in his seat just a little.

"You're not going to stop worrying about her DiNozzo" Gibbs says honestly, knowing the feeling from personal experience. He never stopped worrying about Kelly, sometimes it was just easier to deal with than others. He knew that cases like these would definitely make it harder for Tony. "But you do need to keep your head on straight. You're a good agent but if you're not thinking clearly I'll bench you on this one". Of course he understood what Tony was thinking, but he didn't want it affecting his work. He didn't want his agent or someone else getting hurt in the field. Gibbs knew Tony could keep his act together; he just needed a little push.

"I won't let it interfere with the case" Tony says with determination, he needed to catch the killer and being benched certainly wasn't going to help that. There are a few more minutes of silence in the car before Tony pipes up with "Finch…As is Atticus Finch in To Kill a Mockingbird".

Well, it wasn't quite a movie reference but it was progress.

* * *

AN: I thought I should let you all know that at one point or another we will cover why Tony kept his kid a secret, along with some more details about his bat shit insane ex-wife. Some more Grandpa Gibbs, perhaps a little Tony whump, just for good measure, and of course there will be lots of Alyssa. Just not in this chapter. I hope you liked it, reviews are a great thing.


	2. Getting Personal

AN: Hey everyone! I know I said I'd post updates on Tuesdays but then there was a snow day and so you get an update. Anyways, I thought that I should inform you that the rest of the team is going to find out about Tony's kid soon enough, so enjoy that. And you know the case and all. Without further ado, the story:

* * *

The bullpen appeared to be in a state of chaos; Tony, McGee and Kate were all scrambling to find anything useful on the case before Gibbs got back from his meeting with the director. It seemed that until Ducky was finished with the autopsy they would have nothing. They had already sent all the evidence down to Abby, who had gotten absolutely nothing useful, much like the rest of the team. It was stressful enough that this case involved children but the fact that they were no closer to solving it than when the first arrived at the crime scene certainly didn't help matters.

"Hey I think I've got something" McGee says hesitantly, he was still relatively new to the team and didn't want to make mistakes but he figured anything related to this case that they could find would be more than what they already had and even if it didn't get them very far it would be progress.

"Well don't just sit there McGee! What is it?" Tony replies, sounding remarkably similar to Gibbs and it's evident that the rest of the team notices that if the raised eyebrows and confused expressions were anything to go by.

"Um, it's just, uh, probably nothing actually" McGee stammers, usually Tony didn't make him nervous like Gibbs did but since the start of this case Tony had been every bit as gruff, harsh, and caffeine addicted as Gibbs. It was understandable but it didn't make McGee any happier about getting snapped at by two people rather than just the Boss.

At that point Gibbs walked into the bullpen with his usual scowl and a cup of coffee "Speak McGee" he commands, standing in front of the probationary agent's desk.

That only served to make McGee even more nervous, Gibbs who was usually grumpy seemed to be affected just as much as Tony by this case, McGee knew that cases with children were hard for everyone but Gibbs and DiNozzo seemed to be taking this personally, as if it had been their own child that had been killed. Except for as far as McGee knew Gibbs never had any children with any of his ex-wives and well, Tony wasn't exactly father material judging from what McGee saw at work.

"Well, I was looking for any related cases, and in the past two weeks there have been three kidnappings or missing persons report, all of the victims were girls between five and seven years old, and they had at least one parent in the Marines." McGee says, managing no to say 'um' or stutter throughout the whole thing.

"Why weren't these NCIS cases?" Gibbs asks angrily, his eyes narrowed slightly and he looked like he was about ready to kill the next person who gave him an answer he didn't like.

Seeing McGee start to panic, Tony speaks up "Local LEOs were handling them Boss, nobody thought to get NCIS involved, until now that is. Hannah Finch is the only body found so far but she was taken first according to the police reports". Tony doesn't have to say it for everyone in the bullpen to know what that means: if they don't solve the case soon more bodies are going to start turning up.

"Kate, go with DiNozzo to interview the parents, bring back some damn answers" Gibbs orders and Tony's face visibly pales, this was the sort of task he hated, dealing with the grieving families who would likely be too upset to tell them anything useful. Of course, Tony didn't blame them; he knew how he would feel if it was his own kid, but that knowledge didn't make the job any easier, in fact it only made it harder to not get personally involved in the case.

"Problem DiNozzo" Gibbs challenges, and the earlier warning about keeping his head on straight echoes in Tony's mind, he wouldn't be taken off this case because of his own emotions, he'd just do his job and keep his personal life out of it. Of course, that's easier said than done.

DiNozzo shakes his head "Not at all Boss" he says with faked confidence.

"Then get to work!" Gibbs snaps.

DiNozzo nods tersely then grabs his gear and walks over to the elevator with Kate a few steps behind him. Kate looks to McGee for answers regarding the exchange between Gibbs and Tony but once again gets only a shrug in return although something obviously was going on, Tony had been abnormally silent all day, not a single movie reference or paper airplane thrown at McGee. Gibbs had also seemed different, he was angrier than usual, harsher on the Probie, at it seemed like he and Tony had been at each other's throats all morning. Whatever it was, Kate certainly didn't like it but she keeps her thoughts to herself and doesn't say anything to Tony as they enter the elevator.

* * *

Gibbs watches Kate and DiNozzo leave with a scowl on his face, sending DiNozzo probably wasn't the best decision he'd ever made, especially after he'd encouraged the younger agent to keep his own emotions out of the case, but he didn't entirely trust McGee to know what to say to the grieving parents, and DiNozzo was so much better with people. Either way, he wasn't too thrilled by his options and had sent DiNozzo, hopefully the Senior Field Agent wouldn't make Gibbs regret it.

Without a word of explanation to McGee, Gibbs leaves the bullpen to go down to autopsy, he didn't suppose that Ducky had already finished but Gibbs was looking for more than just answers for the case.

Entering autopsy, Gibbs noticed that Ducky was just about to start the autopsy on Hannah Finch, something Gibbs certainly didn't want to stick around for; he wasn't squeamish usually but it was just a child and Gibbs couldn't help but be reminded of Kelly. "I don't have anything for you Jethro" Ducky says as Gibbs walks in, it seemed that Ducky had been expected him to come early.

"Not here about the case" Gibbs says gruffly.

"Ah, you are concerned about young Anthony?" Ducky asks, having a feeling that the younger agent's response to the case was enough to warrant some extra supervision.

"I just don't want him doing something stupid, I mean DiNozzo's a great agent but I can tell that he can only think about what if it was his kid, he's distracted and I can't have that in the field" Gibbs says talking much more than he usually did.

"This does remind me of a time…" Ducky starts but is cut off by a look from Gibbs, "Well, you probably would like the shorter version wouldn't you. Have you talked to him?'

"I told him to keep his head on straight or he was benched on this one" Gibbs says.

"That was not what I meant Jethro; I mean have you spoken to him as a friend, not his boss?" Ducky asks, and there is a brief look of uncertainty on Gibbs' face.

Ducky doesn't need any more than that look and he says "Talk to the boy Jethro, now, I have to attend to young Miss Finch".

That's all it takes to get Gibbs out of Autopsy.

* * *

DiNozzo and Kate where on their way to visit the last parents, they had finished the first two interviews and as predicted nobody had been able to come up with anything that wasn't already in the police report, if anything seeing the parents of the missing children had only made the case suck a thousand times worse. Looking at each the sobbing mothers, the fathers who were trying to hold themselves together, all Tony could think about was how much worse this would get if their children were found dead.

Kate had already known something was wrong with DiNozzo but when he lets her drive without any argument she figures it was worse than she had originally thought. When they were about half way to the next house DiNozzo's phone rings and he answers it in a very Gibbs fashion; saying only "Speak" rather than any sort of hello. There is a few seconds of silence; presumably the caller was speaking, and then an almost inaudible gasp from Tony. All the color drains from his face and his hands ball up into tight fists. His eyes darken and Tony looks about ready to kill someone.

Kate glances over at him with a questioning look, and he just shakes his head. "Yeah, I understand" Tony says to whoever had called and he sounds furious.

When Tony hangs up Kate asks "What was that about", and gets only another shake of the head in response as Tony punches in a number in his phone, jabbing at the buttons with unnecessary force. Before he can press the call button the phone rings again.

He answers the phone only slightly differently this time, snapping a very harsh "What" to whoever was calling. "Gibbs, I was just about to call you" Tony starts and if Kate had to guess she would say that Gibbs had just cut him off.

Tony listens for a few moments and then says "I know, they just called me. Said we have one week" there's another brief silence and says "We'll be back in ten minutes" he hangs up the phone then turns to Kate and says "Change of plans, back to NCIS".

"What was all that about?" Kate questions, concerned by Tony's reaction.

"Just drive Kate" Tony nearly growls and after that Kate doesn't ask any more questions.

* * *

Back at NCIS a very confused McGee was watching an angry looking Gibbs as he stormed across the bullpen, up the stairs and into the director's office without bothering to knock. McGee was expecting a shouting match that would be heard in all of Washington D.C. but to his surprise he hears nothing coming from the office until a few minutes later when he comes back into the bullpen looking angrier than he had before he spoke to the director.

"What's going on Boss?" McGee asks, not knowing what caused Gibbs sudden mood swing, well, it wasn't really a mood swing considering he had been pissed off before, but now it was about a thousand times worse.

"He's toying with us McGee" Gibbs snarls, then notices McGee's confused look and explains in the same harsh tone. "Our killer walks right into a god damn school, into a kindergarten class and pulls a gun, and says that nobody will get hurt if he can just have one kid".

"Well who was it Gibbs?" McGee asks, wondering if the director or perhaps SECNAV had a child in the class.

Gibbs was going to answer when Tony steps out of the elevator looking extremely pissed, he walks right up to Gibbs and for a second McGee thinks Tony's about to punch their boss, Kate trails in a few feet behind Tony looking almost as confused as McGee. Evidently, Tony and Gibbs were the only ones in the know for whatever recent development had been made on the case.

"They took Alyssa" Tony chokes out, managing to sound borderline homicidal and close to tears at the same time.

McGee pipes up with "Who the hell is Alyssa and why is she so important?" He hadn't meant to piss Tony off, really he hadn't, the probie just didn't know, but if Gibbs hadn't been standing right next to Tony there was a good chance that McGee would've gotten his nose broken courtesy of DiNozzo. Thankfully, Gibbs had reacted quickly enough and had grabbed Tony's arm before he could take a swing at McGee.

Very sternly, but not harshly, Gibbs says to Tony "You, autopsy. Now. Duck already knows."

Tony nods and looking utterly defeated walks away towards the elevator.

Kate and McGee both look shocked but Kate is the first to speak up "What was that?"

"The girl who was taken, her name was Alyssa DiNozzo" Gibbs says.

"Not related to Tony right?" McGee asks still confused by what had just happened.

"Alyssa DiNozzo is Tony's daughter" Gibbs replies, and both Kate's and McGee's jaws drop straight to the floor.

Since they had gotten this case Gibbs had told his senior field agent to keep his head on straight and don't let it get personal. Don't let his emotions get to him. Don't let it interfere with the job. But now Gibbs was almost as pissed and upset as DiNozzo. Because things had just gotten real fucking personal.

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AN: Reviews are beautiful. Hope you liked it.


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